The Presidency has criticised a United States lobbying firm engaged by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar over its campaign for the release of records relating to President Bola Tinubu, describing the effort as a politically motivated attempt to create a crisis ahead of the 2027 elections.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, made the position known in a statement on Tuesday titled, “Speculation as Classified Information: Atiku’s $1.2 million Lobbying Gamble Exposed.”
Dare accused the Washington-based Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C. of presenting political claims as intelligence reports and attempting to give the impression that its statements represented the position of the United States government.
The Presidency’s reaction followed renewed activities by the lobbying firm concerning historical United States records relating to Tinubu.
According to Dare, publicly available filings under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act showed that Atiku contracted the lobbying firm on a 12-month retainer reportedly worth $1.2m.
